School on the move - did it drive the parents crazy?
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Which is your favourite school locations from the "middle" years?
Guernsey
7%
 7%  [ 4 ]
Howells
65%
 65%  [ 36 ]
St. Briavel's
27%
 27%  [ 15 ]
Glendower House
0%
 0%  [ 0 ]
Total Votes : 55


#1: School on the move - did it drive the parents crazy? Author: MaeveLocation: Romania PostPosted: Fri Oct 12, 2007 6:36 am
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I was just wondering how parents might have felt when the CS moved four different times in the "middle" books, first to Guernsey, then to Howells, then to the island of St. Briavel's, and finally back to Glendower House on the mainland. If you were a parent or a guardian, would all this moving around have made you a bit nervous? (Come to that, it must have driven the staff crazy!)

Along the same topic (roughly!), which is your favourite location in these years? I'm torn between Guernsey. because it's where they settle after Exile which is such a great book, and Howells and St. Briave's, as I like a lot of the characters that feature in those years (Bride, Tom, Julie Lucy, etc.). I guess I would plump for Guernsey, though.

ETA: sorry for the typo in the poll question - if anyone knows how to fix it, please do.

Typo in poll edited Very Happy - Alison


Last edited by Maeve on Sat Oct 13, 2007 10:14 am; edited 3 times in total

#2:  Author: MonaLocation: Hertfordshire PostPosted: Fri Oct 12, 2007 6:40 am
    —
Guernsey is nice, but the school spent such a short time there that I can't count it as my favourite. St Briavel's takes that title. I like the sense of community and slight isolation, and a lot of the girls who feature during that period are among my favourites.

#3:  Author: Alison HLocation: Manchester PostPosted: Fri Oct 12, 2007 6:48 am
    —
I think probably St Briavel's as well.

I know that the moves couldn't be helped, but imagine having to pack up all the school's stuff and sort out classrooms etc so many times in such a short space of time ... Rolling Eyes .

#4:  Author: ElbeeLocation: Surrey PostPosted: Fri Oct 12, 2007 8:00 am
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I voted for Howells because when reading the books I felt I could picture the building and area much better than I could anywhere else except Briesau. Also I think that's the period of school life which has the most interesting range of characters.

#5:  Author: Laura VLocation: Merseyside PostPosted: Fri Oct 12, 2007 8:41 am
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For me its Howells because my favourite stories are set there and there's also something quite mysterious about the place. And it would probably be the most accessible for parents if they wanted to visit their daughters Wink

#6:  Author: RóisínLocation: Ireland PostPosted: Fri Oct 12, 2007 9:12 am
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Howells because of the pink wallpapered staff sitting room Laughing I never feel like I really know the building in Guernsey all that well.

#7:  Author: LexiLocation: Liverpool PostPosted: Fri Oct 12, 2007 9:17 am
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Laura V wrote:
For me its Howells because my favourite stories are set there and there's also something quite mysterious about the place.


What Laura said Laughing

#8:  Author: MiaLocation: London PostPosted: Fri Oct 12, 2007 9:29 am
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I think Howells too, though I do love Guernsey.

I think the parents would have been fine just because of the period; lots of schools were evacuated/moved around and I think people just had to accept it as a necessary evil. This feeling probably lasted a bit post-war as well, conveniently for EBD's plots Very Happy

#9:  Author: CarysLocation: London PostPosted: Fri Oct 12, 2007 9:45 am
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I've gone for Howells to, I can picture what the school looked like there much more vividly than any of it's other locations, and I love all the books set there with the exception of Rosalie and Mystery, which are just silly books in my opinion!
I can picture the area surrounding the school in Tyrol and the original Chalet but I find it hard to imagine the buildings which were built later.

#10:  Author: JayBLocation: SE England PostPosted: Fri Oct 12, 2007 11:33 am
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Interesting question which I'd never thought about before.

It took some thought, but I plumped for Howells, because I think we get a much better idea of the whole area and the community beyond the school. Probably because, as with Briesau, EBD was basing it on a real location. And I think EBD was doing some of her best writing during this era.

All the moves were for reasons outside the school's control, so the parents either had to go along with them or move their daughters to another school, which would have been a lot of bother. So while St Briavel's especially probably meant very complicated travelling arrangements for some girls, I expect the parents just grumbled a bit but put up with it.

#11:  Author: Mrs RedbootsLocation: London, UK PostPosted: Fri Oct 12, 2007 12:31 pm
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Laura V wrote:
For me its Howells because my favourite stories are set there and there's also something quite mysterious about the place. And it would probably be the most accessible for parents if they wanted to visit their daughters Wink


Which, sadly, they probably couldn't as it was wartime and travelling was very restricted. My mother, who spent part of the war at a boarding-school in Wales, said it was normal not to see your parents for the entire term, but as nobody did, you didn't feel neglected or unwanted. In fact, I believe she didn't see her father - a senior officer in the RE - for most of the duration of the War.

I, too, voted for Howells as some of my favourite books are set there. I've never really "taken" to the St Briavels part of the series, and its' arguably my least favourite setting.

#12:  Author: FatimaLocation: Sunny Qatar PostPosted: Fri Oct 12, 2007 2:17 pm
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I always preferred the continental locations growing up; I liked the winter sports and the mountain walks and didn't find things half as appealing in England. Yes, there were some good characters, but it was much more fun reading about a school set in Austria or Switzerland than one set in England/Wales. So I still haven't decided which one to vote for!

#13:  Author: CarolineLocation: Manchester PostPosted: Fri Oct 12, 2007 3:15 pm
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Howells for me, because it's just so different from all the other locations.

Partly, I think I like it because EBD didn't make much use of it - it's a bit undiscovered and thus I yearn for more books about it, whereas I'd rather had my fill of St Briavels after two and a bit years there. Interesting to compare the number of books at a location versus the length of time. Guernsey doesn't count really, but of the other locations:

Tyrol = 14 books, approx 8 years

Howells = 8 books, approx 8 years (depending on your view of the gaps)

St Briavels = 7 books, just over 2 years

Gornetz Platz = 25 books, approx 8 years

So, in that context Howells was very much short changed.

#14:  Author: JayBLocation: SE England PostPosted: Fri Oct 12, 2007 3:39 pm
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Because of the War they couldn't have any expeditions in the Howells years, so we don't see anything beyond Howells itself and Armiford. I imagine Stratford on Avon and Oxford would have been half term destinations if it had been possible.

I think the island setting was a nice idea at first, and did bring back swimming and boating, but I think EBD exhausted the possibilities quite quickly. And having it in such a remote location reduced the scope for expeditions just as they were becoming possible again.

(And am I the only one who finds the Cadbury's trip one of the most boring EBD ever wrote? I know we poke fun at the fact that every expedition must have a near drowning or overnight stranding complete with handsome doctor to the rescue, but nothing whatsoever happens on that trip!)

#15:  Author: Joan the DwarfLocation: Er, where am I? PostPosted: Fri Oct 12, 2007 3:45 pm
    —
JayB wrote:
(And am I the only one who finds the Cadbury's trip one of the most boring EBD ever wrote? I know we poke fun at the fact that every expedition must have a near drowning or overnight stranding complete with handsome doctor to the rescue, but nothing whatsoever happens on that trip!)


I wonder if someone had said that to her, and she was pointing out why her trips have that level of incident in them usually Wink

#16:  Author: RosalinLocation: Swansea PostPosted: Fri Oct 12, 2007 6:01 pm
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The Howells books are my favourite from that list too. I think St Briavels has the potential to be a good location but none of the books set there particularly stand out for me.

As far as the moves go, very few people would have been involved in all of them. On Guernsey they would have started up with old girls, most of whom would have left before the school left Howells, and I expect most of the younger pupils would have been local. Only the La Rochelle families followed the school to the mainland so the younger pupils would mostly have been new in Howells. Moving to Switzerland for St Mildreds doesn't really count as a move for the school as it is a different set up, so the only girls to be pupils in four locations (Guernsey, Howells, St Briavels and Switzerland) were probably Julie Lucy and the Ozanne twins (I'm guessing Betsy would have been about 3 when the school was on Guernsey). Those families were so closely connected with the school that they probably minded less than others would have.

The families most affected by all the moves would be the M/B/R clan and the La Rochelle families

#17:  Author: Liseke PostPosted: Fri Oct 12, 2007 7:07 pm
    —
*tongue firmly in cheek, so it's just as well I'm typing!*


I always thought the Cadbury trip had ample opportunity for EBD to anticipate Roald Dahl and have a couple of irritating middles (or prefects or staff, depending on your bias) to accidently fall into a vat of chocolate and be 'rescued' by an irritated factory owner. Though I don't suppose she would have seen him as a suitable husband for a Chalet Girl.

#18:  Author: LisaLocation: South Coast of England PostPosted: Fri Oct 12, 2007 7:08 pm
    —
JayB wrote:


(And am I the only one who finds the Cadbury's trip one of the most boring EBD ever wrote? I know we poke fun at the fact that every expedition must have a near drowning or overnight stranding complete with handsome doctor to the rescue, but nothing whatsoever happens on that trip!)


And they take *HOW MANY* hours to get there?!!! With no toilet breaks Shocked

#19:  Author: Alison HLocation: Manchester PostPosted: Fri Oct 12, 2007 8:59 pm
    —
Liseke wrote:
*tongue firmly in cheek, so it's just as well I'm typing!*


I always thought the Cadbury trip had ample opportunity for EBD to anticipate Roald Dahl and have a couple of irritating middles (or prefects or staff, depending on your bias) to accidently fall into a vat of chocolate and be 'rescued' by an irritated factory owner. Though I don't suppose she would have seen him as a suitable husband for a Chalet Girl.


Oh, to be married to one of the Cadbury family ... Wink ! Sounds ideal to me Laughing .

#20:  Author: TaraLocation: Malvern, Worcestershire PostPosted: Fri Oct 12, 2007 11:00 pm
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Wasn't it a trip she actually did herself? Perhaps I'm hallucinating, but it certainly is mega-tedious in a very un-EBD way, and I've always thought that it was something she enjoyed herself, so it got transferred into the book undigested, as it were.

#21:  Author: Mrs RedbootsLocation: London, UK PostPosted: Sat Oct 13, 2007 5:46 pm
    —
JayB wrote:
(And am I the only one who finds the Cadbury's trip one of the most boring EBD ever wrote? I know we poke fun at the fact that every expedition must have a near drowning or overnight stranding complete with handsome doctor to the rescue, but nothing whatsoever happens on that trip!)


Maybe not, but it's left me with a lasting desire to visit Cadbury World (there wasn't time last weekend, alas!)! I always love reading about that trip - it was fun, nobody was hurt, and the girls thoroughly enjoyed it. Yes, it was a bit didactic, but it was interesting, never the less!

#22:  Author: jenniferLocation: Taiwan PostPosted: Mon Oct 15, 2007 2:45 am
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I voted for Howells. A lot of my favorite characters and character groups were there (Bride and Tom and their friends, Daisy, Gay, Jacynth and Gillian), plus we had a lot of tie-in characters like Jesanne and Monica. The school is still fairly small and cosy, in part because of the wartime conditions, and we have the connection to the outside world and events in it. They also still have some connection to the local people, particularly in the earlier books.

Once we get to Briaval's EBD has settled firmly into the book-per-term mould, so the larger plot moves more slowly. People have mentioned the Cadbury trip, which was intensely dull and detailed, but I would add the bird-watching trips as well as a candidate for random EBD enthusiasm that was described in way too much detail. They are similar in tone to the history lessons stuck in the Swiss books.

Guernsey was nice, but mainly due to the La Rochelle connection as they were only there for one book in the main series.

It would have been interesting to see a spin-off series for the Glendower books, though, with some of the more junior girls.

#23:  Author: Sunflower PostPosted: Mon Oct 15, 2007 11:41 am
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I remember skipping through most of the bird watching trips. I found them intensely boring. Having said that, I actually enjoyed the Cadburys trip, but I remember finding it strange that the guide to the museam was featured so much.

#24:  Author: BillieLocation: The south of England. PostPosted: Tue Oct 16, 2007 11:21 am
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I voted Howells. I'm not quite sure why. I think it's because it has a sense of cosiness, and I've read all the books up to that point so I "know" the characters. I can really picture it.

Also, "At War" was probably the second or third Chalet School book I read so I know it pretty well (this contradicts the former point, I realise... doh!)

Finally the setting of wartime Britain feels familiar as I've researched it quite a lot for my own writing (I may well also have been studying "The Home Front" in history about the same time as I first read it - I'd have been about 11 I think) and I remember loving that project then, so I guess my background reading even as a kid has made the story a bit more - er - 3D and colourful??? - more vivid, anyway, than some of the others. I can't remember which books are set during the war and when it ends - probably in the gap where I'm missing some) but I think the Howells ones show more of the everyday-life adjustments as the girls are getting used to changed circumstances.

#25:  Author: Miss DiLocation: Newcastle, NSW PostPosted: Mon Oct 22, 2007 3:59 am
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I voted for the island because of the setting. I would much prefer to be swimming or messing around in boats to going on long tramps up the side of a mountain.



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